In 1998, the French group Collection 2000 commissioned six filmmakers
from around the world to each make a movie. The only rule is that the
movie must take place on December 31, 1999. Tsai Ming-Liang from Taiwan
made The Hole and Hal Hartley (Henry Fool, Flirt) from the
United States recently made Book of Life. Now, from Canada, first
time director Don McKellar gives us Last Night. McKellar is no
stranger to film. He is the writer of Thirty-Two Short Stories About
Glenn Gould and The Red Violin
(as well as this movie), and appeared in the latter and eXistenZ.
It's also interesting to note that Canadian filmmakers seem to be a tight
group. They are constantly appearing in each other's movies. Last Night
has Sandra Oh, David Cronenberg, Sarah Polley, and Callum Keith Rennie,
among others. And I'm sure that actor Ian Holm and director Atom Egoyan
are part of this somehow. They have to be.

In Last Night, the world is going to end at midnight. The film
follows various people through the last five hours of the world as we
know it. An elderly woman runs through the streets announcing the remaining
time. Duncan (Cronenberg, director of Crash and eXistenZ)
works for the gas company. He spends the last hours calling every one
of his customers and assuring them that gas service will continue as long
as possible. Jennifer Wheeler (Polley, Guinevere,
eXistenZ) is going to a large party. Her
brother Patrick (McKellar) is somewhat of a loner. He is going to spend
the end alone in his apartment, much to the dismay of his family. His
friend Craig (Rennie, eXistenZ, Double
Happiness) is trying to have sex with as many women as possible. Patrick
meets Sandra (Oh, Guinevere, Double Happiness),
a woman trying to get across town to her husband. They are planning to
kill each other at the stroke of midnight. Sandra's car is stolen, so
Patrick, who has nothing else to do, agrees to help her try to get back
to her husband. Patrick and Sandra are the focus of the movie; their relationship
grows closer as the end grows nearer.

There is an eerie calm throughout the entire movie. Except for a few
roving gangs, the streets are nearly empty. The sun is high in the sky
although the story takes us closer and closer to midnight. News that the
world is ending is not new (no attempt is made to explain how everyone
knows), and a sense of finality permeates the movie. McKellar's vision
and style of the endtimes are vastly different from the mayhem and hysteria
that are prevalent in American movies (Deep Impact, Armageddon
among others). While about the end of the world, Last Night shows
us what the effects of this on everyday people. There is nothing anyone
can do to stop it, so things turn inward. Some people surround themselves
with what they feel is important. Others try to discover who they truly
are and what life truly means for them. Well acted all around, Last
Night, a very thoughtful movie, forces us to ask ourselves, if we
knew exactly when the world was ending, what would we be going at the
end?